So long as I serve with these crew members:
Posted on 10/07/2009 5:15:32 PM PDT by SandRat
WASHINGTON, Oct. 7, 2009 – Navy Secretary Ray Mabus yesterday said women soon will serve on submarines, suggesting a reversal of the long-standing ban by the Navy.
Appearing on Comedy Central’s “The Daily Show with Jon Stewart,” Mabus signaled that the Navy is moving closer to allowing coed personnel on submarines.
“It will take a little while because you’ve got to interview people and you’ve got to be nuclear trained,” he said, referring to prerequisite steps before a sailor is assigned to a submarine.
Officials previously have cited a lack of privacy and the cost of reconfiguring subs as obstacles to allowing female crewmembers to serve aboard the vessels.
But Mabus is one of several top Navy officials recently to call for an end to the policy. The Navy secretary’s comments yesterday amplify his previous endorsement of ending the ban.
“This is something the [chief of naval operations] and I have been working on since I came into office,” Mabus, who was confirmed as Navy secretary in May, said last week. “We are moving out aggressively on this.
“I believe women should have every opportunity to serve at sea, and that includes aboard submarines,” he told reporters following a tour of Northrop Grumman Corp.'s Newport News shipyard.
Navy Adm. Gary Roughead, chief of naval operations, acknowledged that special accommodations would be a factor in the decision, but one that’s not insurmountable.
“Having commanded a mixed-gender surface combatant, I am very comfortable addressing integrating women into the submarine force,” he said in a statement last month. “I am familiar with the issues as well as the value of diverse crews.”
Roughead said he has been personally engaged through the years in the Navy’s debate of the feasibility of assigning women to submarines.
“There are some particular issues with integrating women into the submarine force -- issues we must work through in order to achieve what is best for the Navy and our submarine force,” he said. “This has had and will continue to have my personal attention as we work toward increasing the diversity of our Navy afloat and ashore."
Navy Adm. Mike Mullen, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, addressed the issue with the Senate Armed Services Committee last month.
“I believe we should continue to broaden opportunities for women,” Mullen is quoted as saying in response to written questions posed by the Senate Armed Services Committee. “One policy I would like to see changed is the one barring their service aboard submarines.”
Mullen, a champion of diversifying the services, said this month that having a military that reflects the demographics of the United States is “a strategic imperative for the security of our country.”
| Biographies: Navy Adm. Mike Mullen Ray Mabus Navy Adm. Gary Roughead Related Articles: |
Let me guess...it was all due to a deficiency in your ability to lead.
Hey, I'm an expert on bull$hit like that. I was an Air Defense Artillery officer, whose motto is:
We Eat Our Young.
My last job in the Army was Battery Commander in the HQs Command at Fort Bliss. There were so many women that got pregnant it was ridiculous. I never did like the idea of separate standards for PT tests...after all, it was the effin' Army!
The Center for Military Readiness, a non-profit, has been fighting the ‘feminization’ — or ‘chickification’ as Rush says — of the U.S. military. Please consider joining and donating. I’ve been a member for years. Website: http://www.cmrlink.org
Thank you for your support :)
So long as I serve with these crew members:
I have been dreading this. The Navy powers-that-be who are very politically-correct nowadays, saw that we have a leftist Congress and a leftist POTUS so they knew this was their time to ram it through!
Who cares if women can do the job just as well as men? That is not the point. Mixing young men and women together on a nuclear repeat nuclear-powered sub. O.M.G. I am sick to my stomach that we have come to this.
Our Nation is committing suicide right before our eyes ! We are in very dangerous times, as Rush said today.
Absolutely. All meat and cheese, with just a little bit of onions and cilantro. I’m drooling just thinking of them. One of the very few things I miss about living in California.
Dittos to your assertion that the new flag officers are self-serving asses. I also heard once that so many high-ranking officers nowadays have daughters at the academies, etc. and these guys want their daughters in combat, etc. Jerks, is what they are. And, self-serving. So true.
Now, the only real combat organizations we have left are the U.S. Marines and the Special ops forces. The Army is ‘chickified’. Isn’t it frightening that our great nation has emaciated its military down to just the USMC and spec ops to fight for us? O.M.G.
You are so right! “Does it make us a better fighting force?” The answer is so obvious.................
I feel your pain and know exactly what you are talking about. I am a female and served on a ship as a YNC.
Nowadays don’t you think it would be nice to find a few men of honor who would resign or retire rather than be party to the destruction of our national security ?!
Add one:
For nucs, plot the heat and cooldown rates of your water heater. If temperatures fall outside the expected range shut off the water heater and let cool to room temperature. Then start over. Do this 12 hours before anyone takes a shower.
“So two months into a deployment she is found to be ah, with child.”
yep and another thought what if the woman is underway for a couple of months, with the fetus exposed to background ionizing radiation for that time? Hmmm...huge PR nightmare for the Navy, bet the rocket scientists who thought this up didn’t think about those “what if”s huh?
Women already serve in the nuclear power program on surface ships. And this stuff has nothing to do with rocket science. The PC idiots who come up with this crap don't think in logical, linear terms or we wouldn't have these problems.
That’s one of the arguments that Elaine Donnelly uses. She heads up the Center for Military Readiness and has been fighting the chickification of the military for years. http://cmrlink.org. Thank you for your support. :)
So what if she has a three headed child.
“bet the rocket scientists who thought this up didn’t think about those”
When my son was in nuke school, he said one of his instructors would say, with more than a tinge of sarcasm: “But what do I know? I’m no rocket scientist, just a nuclear engineer.”
Marking 2 read in AM when I can laugh without waking up my guests!
Unless human nature changes, this proposal is a set up for disaster.
Chances are they would be lesbians... or charge lots of money.
I’ve heard of female sailors leaving Diego Garcia with tens of thousands of dollars.
Yep, I think it is just part of Obama’s plan to destroy the US. First he has to finish emasculating the military.
6 year nuke mechanic from a boomer here. Women will not be on submarines in the foreseeable future. This ridiculous notion rears its ugly head every few years and disappears as quickly as it springs up. I remember hearing the same thing in boot camp about 10 years ago. The ugly dark little secret that all branches hide from the public is that men + women in a stressful situation = babies which = women getting paid the same amount to sit in an office doing paperwork as the guy getting his legs blown off. Plus it is too physically demanding.
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